Seawall Coalition Reorganizes as the American Flood Coalition
Coalition changes name and structure to better reflect its mission and broaden its reach to flood-affected communities across the nation

With the success of our past work, and looking ahead to support the future mission of our organization, the Seawall Coalition has spun out its membership program into a new entity. We are proud to announce our new name: the American Flood Coalition! The new entity name will more clearly reflect our broad efforts to drive solutions for all types of flooding and sea level rise nationally. We are also in the process of applying for 501(c)(3) federal tax exemption, which is a structure more aligned with the coalition’s activities and will better allow us to drive adaptation to the reality of higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent floods.
Though we have always supported a holistic approach to both natural and built infrastructure solutions, we recognized that our name didn’t fully embody all that we stand for. One of our values as a member-driven organization is to be responsive to ideas and suggestions from our members, so we have acted on the important feedback that we’ve received. This effort aims to better encompass all that the coalition stands for and works for; to drive national solutions to flooding and sea level rise.
We also envisions ourselves as having a broader reach, beyond just coastal communities, so we have chosen a name that embraces coastal, riverine, and inland communities alike.
What our name stands for
Our focus is on U.S. communities across the nation and the federal policies and funding that can enable them to address flooding. This inspired us to choose “American” as part of our new name to show our national focus. We advocate on behalf of communities experiencing all kinds of flooding, whether caused by tidal influences, hurricane storm surge, heavy precipitation, or riverine overflow. So it was important for us to highlight that. As always, we believe in the power of bringing people together as one unified voice for change. We kept the coalition in our name because it is an integral part of who we are.

Why we chose this name
We’ve always supported a holistic approach to both natural and built infrastructure solutions and want this to be clear. Our previous name created confusion and gave the impression to some that we only advocate for seawalls, rather than natural solutions or solutions that might better serve inland communities. With our new name, we wanted to be more straightforward.
Additionally, we wanted our name to be more inclusive, as our previous name resonated most strongly with coastal communities experiencing flooding. We envision our coalition as having a broader reach than that, so we have chosen a name that embraces coastal, riverine, and inland communities alike. We want our name to indicate our support for solutions to all kinds of flooding, all over the U.S.
The process we used
To aid us in making the best possible choice for a new name during our restructuring process, we took suggestions from our interim board members, members of the Seawall Coalition staff, and other members and advisors. We then user tested a series of name options and narrowed down the choices based on survey results. During this process, we ensured that domain names, social media accounts, and trademarks were available for the selection of names that we moved forward with. Finally, we held one last round of surveys among the staff and arrived at American Flood Coalition.

The American Flood Coalition has a new structure, but the same mission as ever. As we advocate for national solutions to flooding going forward, we will continue putting the needs and concerns of our members first.
We are now 85+ members strong and happy to have clarity in our new name and a structure that will better suit our mission at this pivotal time in the coalition’s growth. We are still fighting for the same values and mission: to unlock national solutions to flooding and sea level rise.

This article has been updated since originally being published.
